Monday, 15 February 2010

Well then, one of 'Tourists' favorite DJ’s lands in Newcastle this weekend in the shape of JD Twitch. One half of probably the best club in the U.K. the mighty 'Optimo'.Along side his partner in crime Wilkes, Twitch has been a pivotal figure in the progression of British club culture.The duos weekly Sunday residency at Glasgow's Sub Club has become the stuff of legend, a music lovers paradise. Crossing boundary's and pushing life changing music (both new and old) with a skill, passion, love and obsession all too often missing in contemporary club culture.Over the years they have been responsible for turning many people onto the likes of the Punk Funk / 99 records sound - prior to the mass re-interest in the likes of ESG and LiquidLiquid - (Twitch and Wilkes going as far as to name their night after the track ‘Optimo’ by Liquid Liquid.) Meanwhile the revisionist Punk Funk acts such as the Rapture, Chk Chk Chk and Radio 4 were directly influenced by the sound.Another early 80’s (one time seemingly lost) mindfuck that Optimo draw peoples attention to is the No Wave, Ze Records, Mutant Disco era.With the current vogue for all things D I S C O, Optimo's twisted take on left field disco remains as essential and relevant as ever.Optimo have also gained some e notoriety for their renowned one off special theme party's like the 'Espacio Now' night (Apocalypse Now theme - crowd dressed in Nam get up, club decked out like a jungle with camo gear and war sound effects running through the music throughout the night) and the 'Espacio Odyssey' night where they ran with a 2001 Space Odyssey theme that well and truly put the 'Cosmic' back into 'Disco.'As well as running the Optimo night Twitch has turned in a number of mindblowing remixes for a truly eclectic range artists such as Franz Ferdinand, Pharoahe Monch, The Presets, Colder, the afore mentioned Liquid Liquid, Allez Allez, The Glimmers, Steve Poindexter and dozens more. We brought Twitch to Newcastle last year for a rare appearance at The Other Rooms where he loved it so much, he's back popping back this Saturday for more, this time though, transported via the medium of 'club' to 'theCUT' by the good people behind the 'Dragnet' for a party that promises to be well and truly one to remember.You probably shouldn't miss it, so as theCUT is a relatively small venue and demand for places is guaranteed to be high, we'd recommend that you get down early to avoid disappointment!

Also, as way of subliminal coercion as well as an idea of what to expect from Twitch, we've slapped up a handful of mixes by the great man for your listening pleasure.Hope you enjoy them and 'Tourist' will see you there!

As well as Optimo this weekend there's also the 1st birthday celebrations for KlickKlack at The Cosmic Ballroom on Friday! It seems like only 12 short months ago the first night with Tim Green booted off at The Red Rooms and folks, hasn't time flown by. Great support has been shown to the lads in this time and as such they've got another couple of underground tech-house big hitters to make sure the birthday celebrations are a night to remember with 'Einzelkind '(Get Physical Music, La Pena, Kindisch) and Julien Chaptal (Remote Area, 100% Pure, 2020 Vision) touching down for the night. As ever there's support from residents Doog, Harker and Greg Dance, while hosting the Boudoir we have the ever capable hands of Lee Bolton (Ruck Edits) Allie Williams (End) and the one and only (thankfully) Mr Stu Hedley (Order 66). So both floors look to have their shit cocked, locked and ready to rock!

Reet then, we've been sitting on this mix for a while here at Tourist HQ but it's now become uncomfortable so we're taking it out from under the cushion for the world to sniff. An absolutely storming live mix from the same party as the Danny Berman mix we posted recently, this time it's just shy of 3 hours from another of Tourists fav DJ's, Luke Unabomber, from another of Tourists fav clubs 'The Electric Chair'.A genuine institution in the North of England, Manchesters 'Electric Chair' was, till 2008, probably one of the best nights outside of London for over a decade. Not in the least into all that glam, holier than thou faux underground posturing. The Unabombers felt comfortable in the dirty basement that The Chair was and never wanted to become the next 'Ministry' or 'Cream'. They were always been more of a Sheffield United than Chelsea kind of club. They don't like that shiny thing. Dirty is best. It preserved them and saved many a disillusioned clubbers soul.Choosing a dirty old rock club where they could play the records they loved to friends, cousins, lovers and brothers, minus the new shiny people and their shiny friends, with their shiny drugs, somehow worked. Fuck knows how! As I doubt very much that they had a game plan of any type, but somehow it mutated and by osmosis it slowly grew. And grow it did into their 12th year, when unfortunately for us, both Unabomers felt the same, that nothing lasts forever in one place. Especially clubs. They didn't want to become a self-parody living on old glories. So they killed it.RIP Electric Chair. Bomb the past. Rip it up and start again. Back to the future and all that.But The Chair still lives on in spirit, and it's this beautifully enduring spirit of 'fuck it, throw it all together and see what happens' that comes across so readily in this mix. Kicking off with some nice slow disco/soul numbers to bed you in before busting a disco gut round the middle then succumbing to party pressure for the last third with everything bar the kitchen sink thrown it to great effect. The type of mix that when you listen to it, makes you think, "Fuck, I wish I had been there!!"No tracklist on this one, but after a couple of listens now I've spotted bits and pieces by the likes of The Off Key Hat, Quiet Village, that wicked Karen Carpenter edit from a while back, Todd Terje, St Etienne, Phenomenal Handclap Band, Tiedye, and joy upon joy, Electronic!! A joyous affair from start to finish, it really is a cracking bit of kit.

Sunday, 14 February 2010

Danny Berman aka Red Rack'em is well known for his naughty pirate soul remixes and disco edits which have been supported by the Unabombers, Todd Terje, Swag, Yam Who, Prins Thomas as well as institutions such as Fat City and Piccadilly Records. But this is only one small part of Danny's musical cannon. As a DJ he is known for his actual genre busting eclectic sets alongside nu-school house DJ's like The Revenge and Mark E.From cutting edge Detroit 2 step to wonky disco, beatdown house and glitchy hip hop, his production work too has recently been repped by luminaries such as Carl Craig, the Idjut Boys, the Rush Hour crew and Domu.Danny recently returned to his 'Hot Coins' disco project with the 'Laissez Faire EP' which was well supported by the likes of Prins Thomas, Chris Duckenfield, Soul Mekanik and Bill Brewster and the lead track, 'Norway Man' was licenced to Fred Deakins 'Nu Balearica' comp. Danny is also releasing some fresh beatdown house on Atlantic Conveyors label 'Untracked' and is in demand as a remixer. He has recently been hard at work on the Hot Coins album and the follow up EP.With this recent live mix from the Love Unlimited Sound System/Nash party in Nottingham back in October wearing it's techno and disco influences casually, but assuredly, like a Gareth Hunt lookalike in a 1979 C + A ad, laughing and pointing at some unseen object in the distance, Mr Berman drops 2 hours of brilliant future deepness and wild pitch style house. A proper treat of a mix and one of my favourites from last year. I'm definitely marking Berman out as one of the main 'ones to watch' for the next 12 months. I'm predicting a big year for him.Get on it quick time!!

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

The attitude to abused children in this country, this idea of good and evil still presides over us all. I've done some dodgy things but I'm not evil. Nature has given each and every one of us defence mechanisms that the powers that be have been trying to eradicate and suppress until they want their young men to die for a just cause like protecting oil off of the Argentine coast for example. Then it's all whipped up into nationalism, and violent men become heroes. Be tough, take no prisoners, the word covert springs to mind. Ever since I have tried to understand my own violence I realised I was brought up on a secret script, one that said I was to be tough, show no pain. Emotions are useless to the cause of macho heroism and your countries need for you to protect it. None of this was directly communicated, it was all passed down in the fables and behavior of your peers and parents and history lessons, the things you saw on telly that showed what it means to be a man, James Bond, John Wayne, Rocky, Rambo. On the streets the hard men that feared nobody, the biggest, the most muscular, they were the ones you looked up to, why? Because somewhere at some time you were taught to be tough. If you were or not naturally that didn't matter, you all had to be tough. Where was our war? We grew up with British Legion Dads that did their two years National Service and then proceeded to ram down our throat's how good we had it, and National Service should be brought back, as they guided their beer guts to the nearest British Legion, a hive for good old British Nationalism and breeding ground for bigots and racists. My grandfather was not called up for national service but my great uncle was put in a mental asylum and had his head cracked open when he conscientiously objected... Granddad a fierce communist from the Jarrow march days threw the bible at the court judges when he refused to fight in the second world war, a brave man, some might say a coward, but being brave is about standing up against a belief system on your own when most people just follow like sheep regardless of how they really feel, mustn't upset the apple cart, I'll go to my death just so I don't look out of place.

Now then, news of our favourite semi-regular, compact and bijou happening in Tourists home town of Newcastle this weekend. It's a welcome return to the semi learning-impared Nevilles Disco mob after their anual boxing day toxin-fest. As ever a great post Christmas night was had by all and miraculously nobody died as a direct result of a lethal combination of massive consumption and beats supplied by Chrissy Graham and Bad Passion! Go figure?Well, it's time to fall spectacularly off the wagon again and re-tox this Saturday as the chaps welcome slo-mo disco special ops veteran 'A.D.' to the confines of The DB Social!A.D was involved with the Tonka crew of the late eighties, then moved to Brighton and has been involved in numerous projects such as 'Baby Boom Sound System.' Most recently A.D has played at Bad Passion Project with his good friend Felix Dickinson and the LoveBox Allstars party. As ever, the lingering aroma of 'Bad Passion Project' will be filling your overworked nostrils again as they make the trip up north again to act as warm up to the main event.It's been a great 2009 for these guys, taking the capital by storm playing and hosting packed out parties in East London and as far a field as the Electric Elephant festival in Croatia. With forthcoming releases on their FORC label to follow up last year’s efforts, 2010 looks to be just as exciting. As well as those treats you have the additional musical 'muscle' for this special night in the (rather strange) shape of disco standard-bearers Pauly Barton and Wella who will be bringing the intergalactic dancing vibes helping make your heads and mirror balls spin in heliocentric circles.Neville's Disco will be starting early, kicking things off at 9pm so be like the Tourist staff and be sure to get down there early doors as it's bound to sell out and then all the cheap fuckers who've gone out with their birds for a likkle Valentines treat can save a bit o' wedge as it's only a fiver in and if that's not enough of a draw, I suggest you get amongst the A.D mix the lads have supplied for us as it's a proper corker.

False nostalgia is not a beast that rears it's revisionist head too often.In fact, it might not even exist, as its entirely a term I've created (which also means it may be everywhere, just it's referred to by another legitimate name that I'm unaware of), but I digress.

The best case study i can proffer for this phenomena is the subject of the "Flock of Seagulls" Haircut, or indeed any instances involving the inclusion of "Flock of Seagulls" as an 80's reference.

It's quite common to see either the Haircut or The Band being used by all and sundry as the seminal touchstone for poor 80's style, but here's the thing...

NOBODY IN THE UK HAD A CLUE WHO "FLOCK OF SEAGULLS" WERE IN THE 80's!!!

Everybody namechecks them now of course, but no one will admit the simple fact that they hadn't heard of them till Adam Sandlers Bergmanesque 80's mood piece "The Wedding Singer" or, failing that, the episode of friends were the writers lazily copied the joke.Yes, I'm sure that "Flock of Seagulls" probably made quite a splash in American youth culture during that decade, but really, are young Brits that starved for their own embarrassing musical heritage that they have to get it second hand from US Media?

The latest example is that pissing song by Journey (pissing in the pejorative, not a song about having a tinkle),"Don't Stop Believing".The song has been afforded some sort of classical status almost over night.

You can't walk past (or in, as happened in an unfortunate moment of drunken bad judgement on sunday) any student / ned / lowest common denominator club or bar without hearing the MOR strains of the song, despite the fact that it should have long since become the soveriegn property of naught but Trailer Park Grandparents in their late 30's and the occasional CAMRA enthusiast.

Well Winston, seeing as you've learned to love Big Brother, i suggest you stick this in your memory hole...

YOU HEARD THE SONG ON "SCRUBS" FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!

Yes, that's right, you've sold your soul in return for a slice of the mawkish denoumant on a prime time show.It's not something you heard when you were growing up, your mother did not "make out" with your dad in a Journey T-shirt, the song did not soundtrack your transit to the Senior Prom with the Coach's daughter in the back of Brad's Camero.

Those are not your memories, YOU ARE A REPLICANT!

You may have thought that the ultimate example of this high fidelity heresy was "Wor Jo's" version on everybody's favourite mass opiate X-Factor, but if I'm honest, I didin't mind them singing it.If anything it just stopped them from brutalising a song I actually do care about (see Jedward's hate crime against "Under Pressure" for example).

No, the ultimate signifier of this songs birth into legitimate false consciousness was the 50 year old Taxi Driver who drove me to work the other morning.The fact that he somehow had convinced himself that the song was and had always been close to his heart was more proof of the impermanence of memory than any of Dali's soggy clocks.The fact that he had taken time to learn (or in his mind, re-learn) the LYRICS was cacophonic reminder that when it comes down to music, most folk are just plain naff.

The only other False nostalgia I'd like to point out is Velicoraptors.No one had heard of them till Jurassic Park.Before that the only dinosaurs were the T-Rex (the Gaffer), Brontosaurus (Diplodocus if you were posh), Tricerotops (which was the sworn enemy of the T-Rex according to Ray Harryhausen), Pteradactyl (Pteranadon if you were posh) and the Stegosaurus (the spiny one which ate plants and i suspect was only there to make up the numbers).Basically, the Dinobots from the Transformers.The fact that the Velociraptor is now the go-to Dinosaur has no social significance whatsoever... it just pisses me off.

Friday, 5 February 2010

A special weekend bonus for y'all now with another amazing mix from Mr Ferenc Van-Der Sluijs - better known as I - f who will no doubt be best known to many as creator of 'Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass' as well as the seminal mix CDs, Mixed Up In The Hague Vol 1 & 2.As you would expect, this is a 2 and a half hour master class in every genre from Kosmiche to Italo Disco to Acid to House and back again. Unlike the 'Mixed Up In The Hague' CD's this set was recorded live in Rotterdam on New Years Eve 08/09 and spectacularly captures the incendiary live feeling that the music generates.This comes highly recommended and we're sure you won't be dissapointed.

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Now here dis...

We had set this blog up primarily to promote our Monthly TOURIST parties at the Cosmic Ballroom, but seeing as they've since slipped this mortal coil, we're now just doing it because we like to remind ourselves of how clever we are (with, like... words n'shit).

If you think there's anything on the blog that infringes copyright or the boundaries of acceptable taste, feel free to drop us line.

Dependent on the size of you or your legal team we'll either capitulate post haste, or tell you where to go.